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Trouble In Paradise
I am lucky enough to find myself in what is often described as Paradise: the Cook Islands in the South Pacific. As we prepare for Greenpeace’s largest ship, the Esperanza, to arrive – organising meetings, speaking to the Government, local environment groups and people active on climate change – I find myself overwhelmed by the beauty…
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Is There Any Life Left In The Whaling Commission?
I’m in Madeira, a Portuguese island in the Atlantic and the host of this year’s annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission. The IWC, as it’s known, is the peak international body for deciding upon all issues related to whales and whaling. It’s also my first IWC meeting as a Greenpeace whales campaigner. To be…
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Photos: National Climate Rally
In Sydney, streets were awash in a sea of red on Saturday as thousands of Sydneysiders joined the national climate rally. We were there to demand the government step up its response to the climate emergency. Polar bears and families mingled with people dressed in red (to symbolise urgency). Others marched in groups: climate justice,…
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Choosing Between Nothing and Worse-than-nothing
Today, 12 environmental organisations representing more than 400,000 Australians launched Plan B, calling for immediate action on climate change in the absence of an effective policy to price greenhouse pollution and cut emissions. Penny Wong once said that the Government’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, as a vehicle for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, was “no Ferrari”.…
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There Comes A Time When We Have To Act
How far would you go for what’s right? Would you risk arrest? How high you would climb to save a planet? In 2007, six volunteer activists scaled a 220-metre chimney at a UK coal power station to protest against government plans to build new coal plants. If the action wasn’t breathtaking enough (vertigo sufferers be…
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When Carbon Reduction Schemes Resemble Fad Diets
Forget the Atkins diet, here’s the ultimate new, pain-free weight-loss formula: instead of actually eating less, pay somebody else to go on a diet for you. What a plan! Swap cake for carbon and you have a major part of the government’s current scheme to deal with climate change. Instead of cutting emissions at home,…
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Climate Action Dates for Your Diary
Michelle Hunt is one of our new interns working on public engagement. She’s been busy organising a series of public talks on climate change lined up for June and July. I started my internship with Greenpeace six weeks ago wanting to make a real difference by being proactive in the environmental movement. To be honest,…
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The Future of Energy is Now
I’m going to say it. Ready? Here it comes … Solar power is ready to replace coal-fired electricity! OK, so we’ve been claiming this for a while, but a report released from Greenpeace and the solar industry this week leaves no doubt that solar power is able to provide electricity just as well as coal.…
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Labor & Coalition vs Climate
First posted on Crikey’s Rooted blog It seems as though Malcolm Turnbull has finally managed to align the coalition on climate change at least enough for them to stop kicking own goals and bridge their credibility gap with the ALP. With the coalition and ALP now supporting the same conditional emissions reduction target, the public…
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Simply Polluting – Energy retailers under pressure over new coal
With everything we know about climate change, and the role that coal is playing, it would seem fairly obvious that Australia shouldn’t be building any new coal power stations. We’re a smart country, right? A couple of weeks ago, Coolimba Power called for public comment into an environmental review of their proposal to build a…